Whole Chicken cook: Pellet grill cook

[Elf@shore]

Looking to do 1 st cook of a 6 lb chicken
On my pellet grill.
It’s. A small Grilla Chimp pellet grill.
Want to keep it simple
Dry rub and on it goes.
Hopefully helps me understand the
T Day cook? Got a Fresh 8+ lb
Turkey Breast.
Any idea please?
A. 6 lb chicken
B. 8+ lb Turkey breast.
Using a Hardwood Mix Pellets
Hickory, Maple,Oak,Cherry

Temperature 300 or more?
I have done Pork Chops and Burgers.
Not sure about chicken and Turkey ?

 

[SmokingUPnorth]

For the chicken I would spatchcock it and cook it at 300-325*. That is a good temp that will give you crispy skin instead of rubbery. I’m not familiar with that cooker but I’d it has a “smoke” setting I would run it at that for 45 min to an hour first, if not I’d run it on the lowest setting for up to an hour t get the most smoke flavor. You can brine it for a little extra flavor but not necessary if you said this is kind of a trial run like you said.

 

[mr_whipple]

Never done a whole bird on the pellet pooper. I prefer to put whole on the spinner. I do wings every now and then and run them low smoke setting for maybe 30 minutes then 275 til done. Not super crispy, but nowhere near runner skin.

 

[chopsaw]

There's times , temps and method in this thread for Turkey breast on a pellet grill .
Mines a Weber EX4 , so you may have to adjust for your smoker .
One is deboned and rolled . The other is bone in . Both are tied . Gives a more even cook that way . Boned and rolled is my go to . Makes for a great slice of breast meat .

Smoked Turkey breast

This came up in another thread about BBQ chains stores . I mentioned that a local place had great Turkey and it made me rethink the process . @SmokinVOLfan asked about it , so I figured I would write it out . Here's a thread on how I was doing them before I had the Turkey from Sugar fire BBQ ...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

I'm not a spatch fan . Whole chicken is my thing . I do a bunch of them , several different ways .
These are whole on my SmokeFire . Using the same temp method that's in that turkey thread .

Teriyaki glazed .

I will spatch now and then , just because .

Common thing in the 3 birds ? Split in the skin . That's a sign of rendered / tender skin .

 

[zwiller]

IMO a pellet grill is PERFECT for bird. You want mild smoke like a wood fired grill. Easy to overdo it on mild fare like bird. The key to bird is to brine and higher temps as was already said. Overnight brine min but longer is better. I typically dry brine and hold a week or so. Not a whole bird or spatch guy. I run LOTS of bird so I caved and got some poultry shears. OMG takes less than a minute to break a bird down... Now you have complete control of IT of every piece. Dark meat goes to around 190F IT and breast I pull at 160F (will rise). Breast typically takes a little bit longer to finish due to the size but whole bird is done in just over an hour. The wings were gone in seconds after taking this pic.

 

[normanaj]

I run LOTS of bird so I caved and got some poultry shears. OMG takes less than a minute to break a bird down... Now you have complete control of IT of every piece.

Shears definitely make life easier!

 

[Elf@shore]

IMO a pellet grill is PERFECT for bird. You want mild smoke like a wood fired grill. Easy to overdo it on mild fare like bird. The key to bird is to brine and higher temps as was already said. Overnight brine min but longer is better. I typically dry brine and hold a week or so. Not a whole bird or spatch guy. I run LOTS of bird so I caved and got some poultry shears. OMG takes less than a minute to break a bird down... Now you have complete control of IT of every piece. Dark meat goes to around 190F IT and breast I pull at 160F (will rise). Breast typically takes a little bit longer to finish due to the size but whole bird is done in just over an hour. The wings were gone in seconds after taking this pic.

View attachment 727375

HI! Pictures look Great!
I want to try a whole non brined Chicken
Oil it and add spices ?
To get a drift of what to do?
What Temp to use 300, 350 ?
I have a smoke mode, going to keep it off.
Using a fruitwood blend pellets
Ideally i would like crispy skin ,not rubber? Juicy meat

 

[okie sawbones]

I've always done a 3-step approach. Dry brine overnight. Smoke at 225F until the breast is 140F. Crank up the temp to 350F or higher, then smoke until the breast registers 165F.

I rub my chicken with a mix of melted butter and olive oil. I use Holy Gospel or Yard Bird for the rub. I have a more complex rub for turkey.

 

[sandyut]

I am a spatchcock fan and do it to all whole chickens and turkey breasts. I also wet brine using slaughterhouse brine overnight. Then rub butter under the skin and smoke at 275/300.

 

[Fueling Around]

I would spatchcock your chicken and run around 300 to 350°. This will give you a better feel for cooking a breast piece only.
An 8# turkey breast is not the same as spatchcock nor the same as a whole chicken.
Are you thinking to salt brine before cooking?

 

[Elf@shore]

I would spatchcock your chicken and run around 300 to 350°. This will give you a better feel for cooking a breast piece only.
An 8# turkey breast is not the same as spatchcock nor the same as a whole chicken.
Are you thinking to salt brine before cooking?


Hi! Not a fan of Salt brine, I will probably just use Salt and pepper, some spices over oiling it. I should have brined it last night?
Turkey breast is pre brined, I am good with that, going to add spices after oiling it?

 

[zwiller]

HI! Pictures look Great!

Thanks

I want to try a whole non brined Chicken

Takes time to trust us. I learned MOST of this here. Had the same questions.

Keeping a bird whole does NOT work well unless you truss like chopsaw or you spin (rotis). The cavity prevents the thing from cooking evenly. This is why spatchcocking is so popular. It works PERFECTLY. Odd looking and weird to handle but it DOES work. Looks like roadkill to me... Anyhow, halving is MUCH more to my liking, gives you performance of spatchcocking, eaasy to handle, and has it's own look. Not as much Normal Rockwell as whole but classic BBQ chicken to me.

Rubbing with salt and spices IS brining, that's called dry brining. Alot of people think brining only means soaking in salt water. Nope. I like to keep it simple, but would suggest a good poultry rub for this. Say Weber's Kickin Chicken or the like.

Oil it and add spices ?

No oil.

To get a drift of what to do?
What Temp to use 300, 350 ?

350F is perfect.

I have a smoke mode, going to keep it off.

Agree

Using a fruitwood blend pellets

Personally I like the mix you first suggested. Fruitwood is more for like cured stuff like hams/bacon/to me.

Ideally i would like crispy skin ,not rubber? Juicy meat

350F will give the skin you want the dry brine gives you the juicy meat (provided you pull at proper IT I posted above).

GOOD LUCK!

 

[chopsaw]

halving is MUCH more to my liking,

Yup . Old school BBQ . Half chicken on 2 slices of white bread .
Sauce dumped over the top .

 

[schlotz]

For the turkey breast I'd definitely go with Rich's ( chopsaw ) link. Whole chicken, I divert and use a rotisserie on the grill with a smoker tube full of pellets. In fact I also do this for a whole turkey 12# or less. You get wonderful crispy skin, perfect amount of smoke and the spinner does a great job of self basting the bird.